For most of the life of TechBlog, we’ve used the built-in WordPress commenting system to let you to have your say. It’s simple, relatively fast and allows the author to pre-moderate comments to ward off spam, trolls and hatefulness. However, it has a downside – it’s a big drain on our servers as it struggles to do battle with spammers.
Because of that, we’re switching the TechBlog comment system to Viafoura, the same type used on stories and most of the other blogs on Chron.com. It’s more advanced – you can post photos, for example – and comments appear immediately, rather than when the author gets around to approving them.
You will need a Chron.com or login to leave a comment, but it’s free. (A subscriber login from our premium site, HoustonChronicle.com, will also work.) If you’ve left comments on other parts of the site, then you’re good – you already have a login. If you don’t, you can register here.
Comments will now be moderated after they’ve been posted. If you spot something that violates our terms of service, please flag the comment and a moderator will check it and remove it if it’s deemed inappropriate. I’ll also be looking at them and will nuke anything that doesn’t pass muster.
And please, don’t flag something simply because you disagree with it. That just wastes your time, and that of our moderator.
One other thing to note: With the Viafoura comments turned on, all the previous WordPress comments will be gone. It’s unfortunate, and I’m investigating ways to restore them so they appear in read-only mode. But for now, it’s an unfortunate side effect.
I appreciate the community that has grown up around TechBlog, and hopefully this transition will be seamless and preserve that community.
If you have any questions or thoughts . . . well, you know what to do.
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